1. Field of the Invention
The invention is generally related to a system and a method of providing user-centric computing. In particular, the invention relates to a mobile storage device capable of interfacing with a personal computer (“PC”) for the purpose of using certain resources available through the PC to access user programs and data stored on the mobile storage device.
2. Related Art
In general, a personal computer (“PC”) may be considered a microcomputer whose price, size, and capabilities make it suitable for personal usage, where the personal usage may be both business and non-business related. Prior to the widespread use of PCs, the functions the PC now performs were performed by mainframes, minicomputers, or time-share terminals connected to a central computer.
The PC now is capable of running many different programs and applications, including those programs and applications requiring large amounts of memory and processing power, and the software industry is constantly developing new programs and applications to perform general purpose tasks, such as word processing, internet browsing, internet faxing, e-mail and other digital messaging, graphics, multimedia playback, video game play, etc. Thus, each PC is truly “personal” in that its user may have many specific programs installed on his PC that are necessary to his business or used regularly for entertainment or personal purposes.
Therefore, when the user, for example, has to travel, he still requires access to his own PC. One method of accomplishing this is to access the PC remotely via the Internet, but this requires an Internet connection, which may not always be available, and may also be limited by the available bandwidth. Another method is to store programs and data on a central server, but this has the drawback of a possible lack of data security as well as limitations when there are a large number of data and programs to be stored.
Consequently, there is a need for a system and a method whereby a user's PC is user-centric, i.e., the user may access his own PC through any available PC using a locally-connected mobile storage device so that the latter PC operates as if it were the user's PC.